Wednesday, July 6, 2011

It's Our Choice

I wanted to share this from Max Lucado’s The Devotional Bible, based on Genesis 2:4–3:24. It's not about MY creation today, it's about HIS.

SITUATION: God the creator completed His masterpiece by creating man and woman. God breathed life and spirit into His special handiwork. Though sin entered the world , God also provided redemption from sin.

OBSERVATION: God created people with the freedom to choose or reject Him. When his creation chose to rebel, God revealed His plan for salvation.

INSPIRATION: He placed one scoop of clay upon another until a form lay lifeless on the ground….

All were silent as the Creator reached in himself and removed something yet unseen. “It’s called ‘choice’. The seed of choice.” Creation stood in silence and gazed upon the lifeless form. An angel spoke, “But what if he….”

“What if he chooses not to love?” the Creator finished. “Come, I will show you.” Unbound by today, God and the angel walked into the realm of tomorrow….

The angel gasped at what he saw. Spontaneous love. Voluntary devotion. Never had he seen anything like this….

The angel stood speechless as they passed through centuries of repugnance. Never had he seen such filth. Rotten hearts. Ruptured promises. Forgotten loyalties….

The creator walked on in time, further and further into the future, until he stood by a tree. A tree that would be fashioned into a cradle. Even then he could smell the hay that would surround him….

“Wouldn’t it be easier to not plant the seed? Wouldn’t it be easier to not give the choice?”

“It would,” the Creator spoke slowly. “But to remove the choice is to remove the love.”

…They stepped into the garden again. The Maker looked earnestly at the clay creation. A monsoon of love swelled up within him. He had died for the creation before he had made him. God’s form bent over the sculptured face and breathed. Dust stirred on the lips of the new one. The chest rose, cracking the red mud. The cheeks fleshened. A finger moved. And an eye opened.

But more incredible than the moving of the flesh was the stirring of the Spirit. Those who could see the unseen gasped. Perhaps it was the wind who said it first. Perhaps what the star saw at that moment is what has made it blink ever since. Maybe it was left to an angel to whisper it.

“It looks like….it appears so much like….it is him!”

The angel wasn’t speaking of the face, the features, or the body. He was looking inside – at the soul.

“It’s eternal!” gasped another.

Within the man, God had placed a divine seed. A seed of his self. The God of might has created the earth’s mightiest. The Creator had created, not a creature, but another creator. And the One who had chosen to love had created one who could love in return.

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Valerie

I'm an elementary school teacher in Virginia. I love making crafty things and sharing them with others. I'm also the Director of Children's Programs at my church, where I get to plan everything from VBS to special programs to Christmas plays. When I'm not teaching, crafting, or planning activities, I love to browse on pinterest with my dog and husband lounging on the couch with me. It's a great life!